Families call for urgent school building check after concrete fall
The roof of a downtown school had been leaking for years, until the pressure finally became too much and a section collapsed, sending potentially deadly shards of concrete falling into classrooms below.
It was a strange thing about the calendar that no one was injured or even killed.
The collapse, which occurred during the January school holidays when Collingwood College was vacant, followed years of calls for urgent repairs to the building, which sits adjacent to public housing towers in the inner north suburb.
Parents are now calling for a thorough check of the entire building, saying workarounds have failed to fix severe water damage and the school council is calling for urgent repairs until at least 2023.
The school is now surrounded by scaffolding and parents believe it is left to voluntary parent contributions or raising money for needs, including emergency repairs.
Reports from the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA), which took two years to be published in 2023, have shown one in five public schools in Victoria need urgent repair or rebuilding due to leaking roofs, cracked walls or other faults.
Collingwood College council president Hannah Marshall, who has two children at the school, said leaky roofs, meter-wide closed puddles and water-damaged concrete were collapsing on the third floor of the building, which houses science labs, computer labs, international student space and Year 10 student home rooms.
The floor remains closed as the end of the school term approaches.
VSBA conducts inspections of all public schools in Victoria at least every five years, identifying urgent issues and ensuring students have safe access to learning spaces.
But Marshall said the authority took so long to evaluate Collingwood College that the school community had to employ its own independent engineer.
“It’s a pretty important, really well-used part of the school,” Marshall said.
“This is not due to a lack of interest from the school community. In fact, it is simply because it is asking too much.”
“I don’t think Collingwood College would be the only one who thinks we’ve been slightly neglected by the VSBA.
He said everyone should have a safe working and learning environment.
“We don’t see private schools being adequately funded or having these types of buildings. It’s not fair that our students and teachers are being asked to work in these types of environments.”
Marshall said the school has “done a lot from a parent perspective” in terms of enrollment, increasing the school community and even enrolling in the International Baccalaureate for the middle years.
He said the Collingwood school community was incredible and parents were good at fixing problems or doing what was best, but they felt like they weren’t being prioritized.
Parent James Rankin said there have been problems at school since his son Sam, now in 10th grade, started 7th grade.
“I love my school, I love the people who work there and the community, but sometimes I wonder ‘did I make the right choice for my kids?’ “I think,” he said.
Sam said 10th graders had to commute half an hour to the senior campus to use the science labs, and the computer labs were also out of service, further disadvantaging families who could not afford laptops for their children.
While the upper floor remained closed, students were squeezed on two floors, making access to lockers difficult; Instead of trying to access his locker, Sam chose to move all of his belongings.
“It got overwhelming.”
The student said that there was an odor from floods and leaks, and that these were disturbing when repair work was carried out.
James Rankin said five buckets leaked from the classroom ceiling and collected water as he sat with his daughter during a parent-teacher conference.
“They can’t even fix a leaky roof,” he said.
When local Greens state MP Gabrielle de Vietri visited the school in March, she said there were stalactites in the ceiling where water had been leaking for years and concrete debris on the floor from the collapsed ceiling.
“I am very frightened by the condition of this building, the risk it could pose to students and teachers, and the condemnation of the entire floor,” he said.
“Concrete falling from the roof passes through the ceiling and falls into classrooms below, in pieces large enough to seriously injure or even kill a student.”
‘Concrete from the roof falls through the ceiling into the classrooms below; The fragments are large enough to seriously injure or even kill a student.’
Gabrielle de Vietri, Greens MP
De Vietri also said Spensley Street Primary School in Clifton Hill was in dire need of new toilets.
“Moss is growing inside the walls. Some toilet doors won’t close. Tiles are falling off. Toilets don’t flush properly. Your teachers and principal use pumps every day just to move the pipes. Our school system shouldn’t be like this.”
De Vietri said some schools were promised new facilities at election time, but other learning spaces were crumbling.
David Nicholls sits on the school council at Spensley Street Primary School and said the children’s toilets had not been updated for fifty years.
“Children’s toilets smell awful… Imagine 50 years of children’s urine on linoleum,” he said of the smell.
Nicholls said staff toilets were also “absolutely awful” and no-one should have to deal with inadequate facilities.
He noted that although Education Minister Ben Carroll had visited the school and the VSBA had also visited, the community was still waiting to hear about the improvements.
“Nobody wants to cut a ribbon in front of a toilet block,” he said.
Responding to questions, a Department for Education spokesman said VSBA was working with the school to “assess the conditions of the toilets and identify any remedial actions that may be required”.
Australian Education Union Victoria Branch president Justin Mullaly said staff, students and support staff had the right to a safe teaching and learning environment.
“Mold and other serious health and safety risks in classrooms or staff facilities are completely unacceptable and must be addressed immediately before anyone becomes injured or becomes ill.”
He said the state government must continue to provide adequate maintenance resources and funding to replace buildings that are not fit for purpose.
“One way to meet the infrastructure needs of public schools is for the government to stop allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to improve private schools, as it has done in recent years,” Mullaly said.
A Department for Education spokesman said the safety of students and staff at Collingwood College was of paramount importance, but acknowledged the closures at the main building were disruptive to the school community.
“We have made alternative learning arrangements for year 10 science students and an alternative modular classroom will be available for advanced science courses in early May 2026,” they said.
“The project to eliminate leaks from the roof is ongoing and is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
“We are working with structural engineers to produce a full remediation plan for the roof and completion timelines will then be shared with the Collingwood College school community as soon as possible.”
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Nicole Precel is an education reporter for The Age. He was previously an audio video producer. He is also a documentary producer. Contact Nicole.precel@theage.com.auConnect with: X, Facebook or email.
Caroline Schelle is an education reporter and joined The Age in 2022. He had previously served in courts in AAP.Connect with: X or email.
